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"I will be sitting in the same position by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the interview went well, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up talk in 2026.

There is never any downtime for prime ministers. Just an hour before the interview began, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to decipher precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was far more extended than usual, had finished, Maduro had been formally accused in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

With the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had something of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of relaxation with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the saggy conclusion of 2025, a terrible annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his allies kidding themselves if they reckon his political fate are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

The harsh reality for the PM is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. A faction of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

Multiple times he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", maintaining no one would take his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 may be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the struggle of our times and I plan to guide the party," he declared.

The May Elections

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps excessively, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and unrelated to Westminster.

True – up to a point. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir implying that there were no situation under which he would walk away, even if a his MPs challenged him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to get better. He aimed to assure me, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economic situation would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government enacted during their initial turbulent year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels ahead of the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His central message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

Familiar Arguments

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with more time to talk.

But despite encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political clarity, more dynamism, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in this much political difficulty, does he need a different script?

No administration, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's problems are not only because government is challenging, but because he and his team have made mistakes, even in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM told me that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir blamed "the system" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting obvious political risks as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president takes on a new complication after Trump's strikes on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over his career, the notion he would be content with such action seems unlikely.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime champion of international law" but the public "simply haven't got the entire story at the moment".

Critics wanted him to condemn it before the interview. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has long been growing pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to integrate further with the single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely trigger protests that he is breaking his pledge never to try to undo the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will delight a faction on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to